Stocks move higher on Wall Street; Best Buy soars

View full sizeThe Associated PressTraders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange

NEW YORK — The Dow Jones industrial average closed
higher Thursday, regaining half of its plunge the day before, as buyers
returned to the market.

The Dow rose 55.76 points, or 0.4 percent,
to close at 14,606.11. On Wednesday it dropped 111, its worst fall in
more than a month, following weak reports on hiring and service
industries. The decline was enough to make stock prices seem attractive
again.

"Investors have been looking for a reason to sell, given
the rally we've seen in the market in the past couple of months," said
Joseph Tanious at JPMorgan Funds. "Today, you're seeing investors come
back into the market and buy on the dip."

The stock market got off
to a strong start in 2013. The Dow climbed 10 percent in the first
three months of the year and closed at a record high of 14,662 Tuesday.
Investors have been encouraged by signs that the housing market was
recovering and that hiring was picking up.

The market continued a
steady advance through the first two weeks of March, but since then
indexes have been alternating between gains and losses on a nearly daily
basis as investors' confidence in the U.S. economic recovery weakened.

There
was more discouraging economic news Thursday. The number of Americans
seeking unemployment aid rose to a four-month high of 385,000 last week,
the Labor Department said. The government will issue its employment
report Friday, which investors look at closely for insight into how the
U.S. economy is doing.

So-called defensive industries, such as
health care, consumer staples and utilities, which have stable earnings
and dividends, have led the market rally this year. Investors have been
seeking out stocks that give them similar characteristics to debt
investments after a powerful rally in bonds over the last year pushed
yields sharply lower. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note
has traded below 2 percent for most of the last year.

The 10-year
yield fell to 1.76 percent Thursday from 1.81 percent a day earlier,
within a fraction of its lowest level of the year. The note's yield has
declined over the last month as demand for less risky assets increased
following the financial crisis in Cyprus and signs of a slowdown in the
U.S. The yield was as high as 2.06 percent on March 11.

Japanese
stocks jumped and the yen sank after the country's central bank
announced aggressive measures for getting the world's third-largest
economy out of a two-decade slump. The Bank of Japan, under new Governor
Haruhiko Kuroda, surprised markets by saying it would greatly increase
the country's money supply with the goal of encouraging people and
businesses to borrow and spend. The yen weakened 3.6 percent against the
dollar, to 96.33 yen, while Tokyo's Nikkei stock index rose 2.2 percent
to 12,634.54.

U.S.-listed shares of Japanese automakers rose
sharply. A weaker yen would make Japanese vehicles less expensive in
markets outside Japan, and therefore more competitive. The U.S. shares
of Toyota rose $4.75, or 4.7 percent, to $105.63, Honda's rose $2.01, or
5.4 percent, to $39.21 and Nissan's rose $1.03, or 5.5 percent, to
$19.85. Japanese electronics makers also rose. Sony rose 57 cents, or
3.5 percent, to $17 and Panasonic climbed 27 cents, or 4.2 percent, to
$6.69.

Among stocks making big
moves, electronics retailer Best Buy jumped $3.48, or 16 percent, to
$25.13 after saying it would collaborate with the Korean smartphone and
tablet maker Samsung to open kiosks in its stores.

Facebook rose
82 cents, or 3.1 percent, to $27.07 after the social network unveiled a
new product for Android phones that will bring content to users on the
phone's home screen. More Android integration could help Facebook Inc.
attract more mobile advertisers.

MetroPCS rose 16 cents, or 1.5
percent, to $11.12 after Reuters reported that Deutsche Telekom is
considering amending the terms of the proposed merger between its
T-Mobile USA business and local rival Metro PCS.